Unravelling the Truth
by MiraiTear
Summary: Harry is having an average week at Hogwarts with Ron and Hermione. What he doesn't realize is that Umbridge has found some interesting books that will reveal the truth...(A HP characters read the books fanfic) HP/GW, RW/HG
1. Chapter 0- The Toad's Discovery

Unravelling the Truth: Book 1

MiraiTear: Yeah, I've seen this done too many times to count so I wanted to give it a try myself. I will go through the entire seven books with a chapter probably every week. PROBABLY.

Chapter 1: The Toad's Discovery

Harry, Ron and Hermione found themselves slouched on the armchairs surrounding the fire in the Gryffindor Common Room. The homework assigned to them stretched across two tables but none of them seemed motivated enough to start, not even Hermione was interested. They were all consumed in their own thoughts. Harry's were solely based on the DA meeting that had occurred half an hour ago and how everyone was improving. Ron's was how he finally managed to pull off a Leg-Locker on Hermione and thinking of finally asking Hermione out on a date. Hermione's thoughts however, drifted to Harry's plight with Umbridge. He was still unwilling to tell anyone about the Blood Quill and she was worried for his safety.

Professor Dolores Umbridge walked briskly across the corridor. She had noticed at least twenty minutes ago a student walking away from the Seventh Floor and was determined to find out where she had been. Students, in her opinion, did not walk out of unused corridors for no particular reason. She paced back and forth, her thoughts drifting towards Harry Potter and how he was probably the reason, how he should be expelled, how he should be exposed for his lies.

Suddenly a door appeared out of nowhere and she jumped back with a shock. She hesitated for a moment and opened the door. It was completely empty except for seven books hovering in the air. She edged closer, curious at the discovery when they flew to her and landed in her arms not so gently. She looked over the cover and saw the title: '_Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'_. She wondered what on earth Potter was doing with something as important as the Philosopher's Stone when a slightly crumpled note formed on top of the books. The note said:

To whoever finds these books

It is not necessary you know my identity, only that I am from the future and these are books detailing Harry Potter's life. They will go into detail on his life at home and his first seven years of Hogwarts. It is my wish that these will be read to show the truth to everyone. I would like to request that the following people should be included in this reading

Remus Lupin and his dog Snuffles. Mr and Mrs Diggory, Alastor Moody, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Nymphadora Tonks, Oliver Wood, Mr and Mrs Weasley and their sons Bill and Charlie. More people may appear if the circumstances allow it.

Umbridge stood in a state of shock, before her face contorted into an ugly half-smile. _Finally, she thought, finally she had him._

The next day at breakfast, Umbridge stood up and said in a simpering voice "Hem, hem"

Half the school turned their heads to face her. She continued in her infuriatingly voice, " I have obtained some interesting books the over day about a quite interesting topic. I have found seven books about the truth about Harry Potter"

Everyone's' heads turned around at the last sentence. Harry stiffened slightly and relaxed. There was no way there were actually books like this, definitely no way…

The staff stared blankly in confusion, except for Dumbledore. He stoically stared back at her and watched her continue.

Umbridge said "Several other _people_ will be joining us to read this book with us, along with the Minister and his assistant"

Fudge walked in, oblivious to the looks of fury on every Gryffindor's face. He sat down on a seat next to Umbridge with Percy following faithfully behind him.

The door opened again and the looks of fury changed into cheers. Remus Lupin and a giant black dog entered along with two aurors and Alastor Moody. Mr and Mrs Weasley walked in along with Mr and Mrs Diggory who looked a bit pale to say the least.

Harry ran over to Remus and Snuffles and hugged them both. They sat down at the Gryffindor table and were about to catch up on the times when Umbridge interrupted them and said "Hem, hem. We have to start now, if we are ever going to finish"

Harry couldn't help but mutter, "Do we have to even start..."

Umbridge glared violently and regained her composure to say "_Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Chapter 1, The Boy who Lived"_


	2. Chapter 1-The Boy Who Lived

**Unravelling the Truth- Book 1 **

**Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone**

**MiraiTear: Sorry, the chapter after this one may be a little bit late due to me going on holiday, WITHOUT A LAPTOP. I'll probably upload it in two weeks from now. Sorry again!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. If I did I would be driving a Ferrari (one day….)**

**Chapter One- The Boy Who Lived**

Umbridge turned to the first page of the book and said aloud, "Chapter One, The Boy Who Lived"

Fred yelled across the room "Hey Harry, now we can find out why the Ministry thinks you are an insufferable prick!" to much laughter.

Umbridge and Fudge growled before Umbridge regained composure and started reading.

**Mr and Mrs Dursley, of number four Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.**

"You're welcome" Luna said absent-mindedly.

**They were the last people you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn't hold with such nonsense.**

"Well, they sound like a friendly bunch don't they, Fred?" George said in shock.

"They sound just like people you want to be best of mates with don't they, George?" Fred replied.

"SILENCE!" Umbridge screeched across the room.

"Dolores, we can't help them commenting, it is a good way to keep them focused" said a tired looking Madam Bones who no one had noticed had also came in and was sitting next to her niece. "That is what you wish for isn't it?"

Umbridge grumbled and moved on.

**Mr Dursley was the director of a firm called Grunnings, which made drills.**

"What are drills?" asked a second year pureblood Ravenclaw

The Muggle Studies professor spoke kindly, "Please write down the muggle words you don't understand and hand them to me later for the definitions"

**He was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, although he did have a very large moustache.**

"Charming, isn't he" Parvati giggled to Lavender.

"Hey Harry, mate, you sure he isn't half walrus" Ron asked in disgust.

"Sometimes I wonder" Harry thought to himself.

**Mrs Dursley was thin and blond and had nearly twice the usual amount of neck**

"Giraffe!" was cried out throughout the Hall.

"Actually, you are wrong there." Harry said to much confusion.

"Horsie!" Ron, Harry, Fred and George said in unison.

A mixture of "Harry!" from Lupin and "Ron!" from Hermione and "Fred, George!" from Mrs Weasley followed after the peals of laughter that resulted.

"It's not like there is any love between us anyway" Harry muttered to himself. Only Remus and Sirius heard him and exchanged looks. _"We have to look into this later"_ Sirius whined to himself, in his dog form as usual.

**which came in very useful as she spent so much of her time craning over garden fences, spying on her neighbours.**

"_Petunia, you haven't change at all in all these years, still listening at keyholes_" Snape thought to himself. His thoughts drifted and he shook his head. _"No, there is no way that Potter could be in danger, he's a spoilt prince. He's not Lily"_

**The Dursleys had a small son called Dudley, and in their opinion there was no finer boy anywhere.**

"Excuse me, did I just hear small and Dudley in the same sentence?" Harry asked aloud.

"They're comparing to a whale" Fred assured him.

"Fred!" Mrs Weasley said in horror

"It's true Mum, he's half pig"

"Ginny!"

Hagrid couldn't help but shuffle his feet at that comment. Harry gave him a wide grin as he fondly remembered the pig's tail.

**The Dursleys had everything they wanted, but they also had a secret, and their greatest fear was that somebody would discover it. They didn't think they could bear it if anyone found out about the Potters.**

"What's wrong with the Potters may I ask?" said Professor McGonagall incredulously.

"Hear, hear" was chorused around majority of the school.

"_They were all fools who meddled in Ministry matters"_ Umbridge thought, _"The only loss is that they never taught their child manners"_

**Mrs Potter was Mrs Dursley's sister,**

"Still think she was adopted" muttered both Snape and Remus.

**but they haven't met for several years; in fact, Mrs Dursley pretended she didn't have a sister, because her sister and her good-for-nothing husband**

"JAMES WAS NOT GOOD-FOR-NOTHING; HE WAS A DAMN BETTER PERSON THAN YOU COULD EVER BE!"

People turned their heads to see a white faced Lupin standing, fist clenched next to Snuffles who was growling fiercely at the book.

"What's with that dog?" Lee asked Harry who stayed silent.

Umbridge coughed "Hem, hem. I hope you can all calm down before I have to ask you to leave" Her face clearly showed that she didn't mind asking him to leave that instant. "Disgusting werewolf" She said quietly to herself. She didn't realise that the teachers behind her gave her icy looks of hatred until a jet of light hit her and she fell to the floor unconscious.

"Umbridge!" Fudge yelled, running forwards and then shaking her. No one saw a slight smirk coming from a shadow in the back row and a voice saying "Serves you right" except for Sirius who turned his head back to see nothing. _"Strange…"_ He thought.

"Because of our…how to muggles say it, technical issues?, may I try my hand at reading?" Dumbledore asked Madam Bones.

"Of course headmaster" Madam Bones replied.

**were as unDursleyish**

"Are muggles incapable of learning the English language" sneered Malfoy

**as it was possible to be. The Dursleys shuddered to think what the neighbours would say if the Potters arrived in their street.**

"If they were anything like their son is they would think they were the most awesome people ever!" Ginny said loudly. Harry blushed and smiled nervously at her. Snuffles then gave his own dog version of a wolf-whistle to many laughs.

**The Dursleys knew that the Potters had a small son, too, but they had never even seen him. This boy was another good reason for keeping the Potters away; they didn't want Dudley mixing with a child like that.**

"Like that? I'll show you like that you piece of-"

"Ms Weasley!"

"Sorry Professor"

**When Mr and Mrs Dursley woke up on the dull, grey Tuesday our story starts,**

"Didn't it already start, like, ten minutes ago?" asked Neville

**there was nothing about the cloudy sky outside to suggest that strange and mysterious things would soon be happening all over the country. Mr Dursley hummed**

"Get me some ear plugs" Harry groaned

**as he picked out his most boring tie for work**

"Why his most boring, why not the coolest?" Tonks asked

"Didn't you get the man's personality? It's a wonder how you ever became an auror" Mad-Eye growled.

Some of the students in seventh year flinched back. They had all thought along the same lines as Tonks.

**And Mrs Dursley gossiped away happily as she wrestled a screaming Dudley into his high chair**

"Bratty child, much" Malfoy said to many looks of shock. "What?"

"You are the last person to be talking about bratty children!"

**None of them noticed a large tawny owl flutter past the window.**

"Are they blind or something?" a first year bravely said.

"Trust me, Dudley in a tantrum is definitely taking up their attention" Harry said in a voice that sounded like he had experienced something along those lines.

**At half-past eight Mr Dursley picked up his briefcase, pecked Mrs Dursley on the cheek and tried to kiss Dudley goodbye but missed, because Dudley was now having a tantrum and throwing his cereal at the walls.**

"Brat"

'**Little tyke," **

"He condoned that behaviour?" Professor Sinistra exclaimed scandalously.

"And another thing" Fred said.

"He called him little!" said George

"They're deluding themselves" they both chorused.

**chortled Mr Dursley as he left the house. He got into his car and backed out of number four's drive.**

**It was on the corner of the street that he noticed the first sign of something peculiar- a cat reading a map.**

"Professor McGonagall, is that you?" Hermione asked curiously.

"Yes, indeed. I wanted to see with my own eyes the type of environment the Headmaster was planning to take Harry to" McGonagall replied. _"That place is not the kind of place for a boy like Harry"_

**For a second, Mr Dursley didn't realise what he had seen- then he jerked his head around to look again. There was a tabby cat standing on the corner of Privet Drive but there was no map in sight.**

"Should've used a Disillusionment Charm" Professor McGonagall murmured to herself.

**What could he have been thinking of? It must be a trick of the light. Mr Dursley blinked and stared at the cat. It stared back. **

"The famous Minnie glare" Lupin said fondly turning McGonagall's face slightly pink. She barked back for them to carry on reading.

**As Mr Dursley drove around the corner and up the road, he watched the cat in his mirror. It was now reading the sign that said Privet Drive- no, looking at the sign; cats couldn't read maps or signs.**

"That's what you think" McGonagall said smugly.

**Mr Dursley gave himself a little shake and put the cat out of his mind. As he drove towards town he thought of nothing except for a large order of drills he was hoping to get that day.**

"One-track mind, much" A Hufflepuff sixth year snorted.

**But on the edge of town, drills were driven out of his mind by something else. As he sat there in the usual morning traffic jam, he couldn't help noticing that there seemed to be a lot of strangely dressed people about. People in cloaks.**

"How are those abnormal?" a Slytherin third year asked

"Muggles don't wear cloaks, only time you really see them is on Halloween." Hermione replied.

"Weird" Lee said in awe.

**Mr Dursley couldn't bear people who dressed in funny clothes- the get-ups you saw on young people! He supposed this was some stupid new fashion. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and his eyes fell on a huddle of these weirdos standing quite close by. They were whispering excitedly together. Mr Dursley was enraged to see that a couple of them weren't young at all; why, that man had to be older than he was, and wearing an emerald-green cloak! The nerve of him!**

"Oh, the horror!" Fred comically gasped.

**But then it struck Mr Dursley**

"Hopefully lightning" Harry muttered.

**that this was probably some kind of silly stunt- these people were obviously collecting for something…yes, that would be it.**

"Nope, it's just a bunch of old wizards gossiping, nothing to worry about" Seamus said

**The traffic moved on, and in a few minutes later, Mr Dursley arrived in the Grunnings car park, his mind back on drills.**

**Mr Dursley always sat with his back to the window in his office on the ninth floor. If he hadn't, he might have found it harder to concentrate on drills that morning. He didn't see the owls swooping past in broad daylight, though people down in the street did; they pointed and gazed open-mouthed as owl after owl sped overhead.**

"What fools are sending messages in plain muggle sight, You-know-who gone or not, does NOT mean you can let muggles see your owls" McGonagall huffed.

**Most of them had never seen an owl even at night-time. Mr Dursley, however, had a perfectly normal owl-free morning. He yelled at five different people. He made several important phone calls and shouted a bit more. He was in a very good mood until lunch-time, when he thought he'd stretch his legs and walk**

"THE WORLD IS ENDING, PEOPLE!" Ron yelled

**across the road to buy himself a bun from the baker's opposite.**

"Ah"

**He'd forgotten all about the people in cloaks until he passed a group of them next to the baker's. He eyed them angrily as he passed. He didn't know why, but they made him feel uneasy. This lot were whispering excitedly, too, and he couldn't see a single collecting tin. It was on his way back past them, clutching a large doughnut in a bag, that he caught a few words of what they were saying. **

"**The Potters, that's right, that's what I heard-"**

"**-yes, their son, Harry-"**

**Mr Dursley stopped dead.**

"YES!"

"Stopped dead, not dead."

"Damn"

"HARRY!"

**Fear flooded him. He looked back at whisperers as if he wanted to say something to them, but thought better of it. **

**He dashed back across the road, hurried up to his office, snapped at his secretary not to disturb him,**

"Poor secretary" Luna dreamily said.

**seized his telephone and had almost finished dialling his home number when he changed his mind. He put the receiver down and stroked his moustache, thinking… no, he was being stupid.**

"He finally realises it?" Dean piped in.

**Potter wasn't such an unusual name. He was sure that there were lots of people called Potter who had a son called Harry. Come to think of it, he wasn't even sure his nephew was called Harry. He'd never even seen the boy. It might have been Harvey. Or Harold.**

"They don't even know your name?" Hermione said in shock.

"Yeah, who names their son Harold? Imagine Harry as a Harold" said Charlie, who had apparated there earlier.

"Frightening, that is" Fred said.

**There was no point in worrying Mrs. Dursley; she always got so upset at any mention of her sister. He didn't blame her—if he'd had a sister like that… but all the same, those people in cloaks…**

"What's wrong with having Lily as a sister?" said both Remus and Severus again. Severus scowled at Lupin; to have similar thoughts to that mutt was…

**He found it a lot harder to concentrate on drills that afternoon and when he left the building at five o'clock, he was still so worried that he walked straight into someone just outside the door.**

"**Sorry," he grunted, as the tiny old man stumbled and almost fell. It was a few seconds before Mr. Dursley realized that the man was wearing a violet cloak. He didn't seem at all upset at being almost knocked to the ground. On the contrary, his face split into a wide smile and he said in a squeaky voice that made passersby stare, "Don't be sorry, my dear sir, for nothing could upset me today! Rejoice, for You-Know-Who has gone at last! Even Muggles like yourself should be celebrating, this happy, happy day!"**

"Professor Flitwick, was that you?" Katie Bell asked. Professor Flitwick shuffled his feet and quickly nodded.

And the old man hugged Mr. Dursley around the middle and walked off.

"HIS ARMS FIT!?" everyone in the hall chorused in shock.

"Barely even halfway" Professor Flitwick remembered to himself.

**Mr. Dursley stood rooted to the spot. He had been hugged by a complete stranger. He also thought he had been called a Muggle, whatever that was. He was rattled. He hurried to his car and set off for home, hoping he was imagining things, which he had never hoped before, because he didn't approve of imagination.**

"That man-"Fred said in mock shock

"-has no soul" George said in the same tone. Harry simply thought to himself _"You have no idea"_

**As he pulled into the driveway of number four, the first thing he saw—and it didn't improve his mood—was the tabby cat he'd spotted that morning. It was now sitting on his garden wall. He was sure it was the same one; it had the same markings around its eyes.**

"Definitely the Professor."

"**Shoo!" said Mr. Dursley loudly.**

**The cat didn't move. It just gave him a stern look. Was this normal cat behavior?**

"Nope, just the behaviour of an animagus sick of looking at your bratty child and horse all day." Ron whispered to Harry.

**Trying to pull himself together, he let himself into the house. He was still determined not to mention anything to his wife.**

**Mrs. Dursley had had a nice, normal day. She told him over dinner all about Mrs. Next Door's problems with her daughter and how Dudley had learned a new word ("Won't!").**

"Wow, what an achievement you porker" Ginny said ferociously.

**Mr. Dursley tried to act normally. When Dudley had been put to bed, he went into the living room in time to catch the last report on the evening news:**

"**And finally, bird watchers everywhere have reported that the nation's owls have been behaving very unusually today. Although owls normally hunt at night and are hardly ever seen in daylight, there have been hundreds of sightings of these birds flying in every direction since sunrise. Experts are unable to explain why the owls have suddenly changed their sleeping pattern." The newscaster allowed himself a grin. "Most mysterious. And now, over to Jim McGuffin with the weather. Going to be any more showers of owls tonight, Jim?"**

"**Well, Ted," said the weatherman**

"Hey, that's Dad!" Tonks said excitedly.

"**Well, Ted," said the weatherman, "I don't know about that, but it's not only the owls that have been acting oddly today. Viewers as far apart as Kent, Yorkshire, and Dundee have been phoning in to tell me that instead of the rain I promised yesterday, they've had a downpour of shooting stars! Perhaps people have been celebrating Bonfire Night early—it's not until next week, folks! But I can promise a wet night tonight."**

**Mr. Dursley sat frozen in his armchair. Shooting stars all over Britain? Owls flying by daylight? Mysterious people in cloaks all over the place? And a whisper, a whisper about the Potters…**

"Gee, put it together already" a girl from Hufflepuff said.

**Mrs. Dursley came into the living room carrying two cups of tea. It was no good. He'd have to say something to her. He cleared his throat nervously. "Er—Petunia, dear—you haven't heard from your sister lately, have you?"**

"Cue smashing of cups and high-pitched screams!" Lee said loudly.

**As he had expected, Mrs. Dursley looked shocked and angry. After all, they normally pretended she didn't have a sister.**

"That must really hurt. Poor Mrs Potter." A Gryffindor first year said sadly.

"I can't imagine ignoring Padma for the rest of my life!" Parvati said, shooting a smile at her sister who grinned back.

"**No," she said sharply. "Why?"**

"**Funny stuff on the news," Mr. Dursley mumbled. "Owls… shooting stars… and there were a lot of funny looking people in town today…"**

"**So?" snapped Mrs. Dursley.**

"**Well, I just thought… maybe… it was something to do with… you know… her crowd."**

"OUR CROWD!?" everyone in the hall bellowed.

"If normal is them, heck, I don't want to be normal!" Charlie said

**Mrs. Dursley sipped her tea through pursed lips. Mr. Dursley wondered whether he dared tell her he'd heard the name "Potter." He decided he didn't dare. Instead he said, as casually as he could, "Their son—he'd be about Dudley's age now, wouldn't he?"**

"**I suppose so," said Mrs. Dursley stiffly.**

"**What's his name again? Howard, isn't it?"**

"**Harry. Nasty, common name, if you ask me."**

"Millions of times better than Dudley" Romilda Vane gushed to Harry, starry-eyed. He just edged back one metre, much to the humour of Remus and Snuffles.

**Oh, yes," said Mr. Dursley, his heart sinking horribly. "Yes, I quite agree."**

**He didn't say another word on the subject as they went upstairs to bed. While Mrs. Dursley was in the bathroom, Mr. Dursley crept to the bedroom window and peered down into the front garden. The cat was still there. It was staring down Privet Drive as though it were waiting for something.**

**Was he imagining things? Could all this have anything to do with the Potters? If it did… if it got out that they were related to a pair of—well, he didn't think he could bear it.**

**The Dursleys got into bed. Mrs. Dursley fell asleep quickly but Mr. Dursley lay awake, turning it all over in his mind. His last, comforting thought before he fell asleep was that even if the Potters were involved, there was no reason for them to come near him and Mrs. Dursley. The Potters knew very well what he and Petunia thought about them and their kind… He couldn't see how he and Petunia could get mixed up in anything that might be going on—he yawned and turned over—it couldn't affect them…**

**How very wrong he was.**

"

"Yep, you'll wake up to a baby on your doorstep and sure as hell the stork didn't bring it." An innocent first year Hufflepuff said. Everyone stared at her incredulously and she got very confused.

**Mr. Dursley might have been drifting into an uneasy sleep, but the cat on the wall outside was showing no sign of sleepiness. It was sitting as still as a statue, its eyes fixed unblinkingly on the far corner of Privet Drive. It didn't so much as quiver when a car door slammed on the next street, nor when two owls swooped overhead. In fact, it was nearly midnight before the cat moved at all.**

**A man appeared on the corner the cat had been watching, appeared so suddenly and silently you'd have thought he'd just popped out of the ground. The cat's tail twitched and its eyes narrowed.**

**Nothing like this man had ever been seen on Privet Drive. He was tall, thin, and very old, judging by the silver of his hair and beard, which were both long enough to tuck into his belt. He was wearing long robes, a purple cloak that swept the ground, and high heeled, buckled boots. His blue eyes were light, bright, and sparkling behind half moon spectacles and his nose was very long and crooked, as though it had been broken at least twice. This man's name was Albus Dumbledore.**

"And thus, the first normal person appears, thanks Headmaster!" Bill said.

"_Oh, he's far from normal…"_ Draco thought.

**Albus Dumbledore didn't seem to realize that he had just arrived in a street where everything from his name to his boots was unwelcome. He was busy rummaging in his cloak, looking for something. But he did seem to realize he was being watched, because he looked up suddenly at the cat, which was still staring at him from the other end of the street. For some reason, the sight of the cat seemed to amuse him. He chuckled and muttered, "I should have known."**

"How did you know, Professor?" Neville asked.

"The markings on her eyes look remarkably similar to her spectacles my dear boy" Dumbledore said.

**He found what he was looking for in his inside pocket. It seemed to be a silver cigarette lighter. He flicked it open, held it up in the air, and clicked it. The nearest street lamp went out with a little pop. He clicked it again—the next lamp flickered into darkness**

"Cool, sir!" Colin Creevey chirped to which Dumbledore chuckled at.

**Twelve times he clicked the Put Outer, until the only lights left on the whole street were two tiny pinpricks in the distance, which were the eyes of the cat watching him. If anyone looked out of their window now, even beady eyed Mrs. Dursley, they wouldn't be able to see anything that was happening down on the pavement. Dumbledore slipped the Put Outer back inside his cloak and set off down the street toward number four, where he sat down on the wall next to the cat. He didn't look at it, but after a moment he spoke to it.**

"**Fancy seeing you here, Professor McGonagall."**

**He turned to smile at the tabby, but it had gone. Instead he was smiling at a rather severe looking woman**

"Even Dumbledore" Alicia Spinnet thought to herself, remembering the times spent in detention with her.

**who was wearing square glasses exactly the shape of the markings the cat had had around its eyes. She, too, was wearing a cloak, an emerald one. Her black hair was drawn into a tight bun. She looked distinctly ruffled.**

"**How did you know it was me?" she asked.**

"**My dear Professor, I've never seen a cat sit so stiffly."**

"At least she doesn't have posture problems like my aunt" Remus whispered to Harry who grinned.

"**You'd be stiff if you'd been sitting on a brick wall all day," said Professor McGonagall.**

"**All day? When you could have been celebrating? I must have passed a dozen feasts and parties on my way here."**

"Imagine a celebrative McGonagall" Ernie Macmillan gasped out.

"Her old sense of fashion mixed with modern parties?" everyone started laughing like crazy at the comment made by Justin.

Professor McGonagall sniffed angrily.

"**Oh yes, everyone's celebrating, all right," she said impatiently. "You'd think they'd be a bit more careful, but no—even the Muggles have noticed something's going on. It was on their news." She jerked her head back at the Dursleys' dark living room window. "I heard it. Flocks of owls… shooting stars… Well, they're not completely stupid. They were bound to notice something. Shooting stars down in Kent—I'll bet that was Dedalus Diggle. He never had much sense."**

McGonagall flushed red and thanked Merlin that Diggle was not present at the reading.

"**You can't blame them," said Dumbledore gently. "We've had precious little to celebrate for eleven years."**

"**I know that," said Professor McGonagall irritably. "But that's no reason to lose our heads. People are being downright careless, out on the streets in broad daylight, not even dressed in Muggle clothes, swapping rumors."**

**She threw a sharp, sideways glance at Dumbledore here, as though hoping he was going to tell her something, but he didn't, so she went on. "A fine thing it would be if, on the very day You-Know-Who seems to have disappeared at last, the Muggles found out about us all. I suppose he really has gone, Dumbledore?"**

"**It certainly seems so," said Dumbledore. "We have much to be thankful for. Would you care for a lemon drop?"**

"**A what?"**

"My first reaction!" Fred said

"I suppose you being in the headmaster's office for half of your school life gave you that opportunity" Mrs Weasley said cryptically.

"**A lemon drop. They're a kind of Muggle sweet I'm rather fond of."**

"**No, thank you," said Professor McGonagall coldly, as though she didn't think this was the moment for lemon drops. "As I say, even if You-Know-Who has gone—"**

"**My dear Professor, surely a sensible person like yourself can call him by his name? All this 'You-Know-Who' nonsense—**

"Only you, would call You-Know-Who nonsense" Mr Weasley said, shaking his head but clearly smiling.

**for eleven years I have been trying to persuade people to call him by his proper name: Voldemort." Professor McGonagall flinched, but Dumbledore, who was unsticking two lemon drops, seemed not to notice. "It all gets so confusing if we keep saying 'You-Know-Who.' I have never seen any reason to be frightened of saying Voldemort's name."**

"Wasn't it because of V-Voldemort's taboo on the name that we couldn't say it all that time in the war?" Mrs Diggory asked Dumbledore who nodded. "There was a taboo on the name but after Voldemort's body was destroyed-"

"Not destroyed, he is dead!" Fudge yelled his face red with anger.

Everyone ignored him.

"**I know you haven't", said Professor McGonagall, sounding half exasperated, half admiring. "But you're different. Everyone knows you're the only one You Know—oh, all right, Voldemort, was frightened of."**

"**You flatter me," said Dumbledore calmly. "Voldemort had powers I will never have."**

"**Only because you're too—well—noble to use them."**

"**It's lucky it's dark. I haven't blushed so much since Madam Pomfrey told me she liked my new earmuffs."**

"Dear Merlin, please scrub out my ears right now" Fred said dramatically, clasping his hands and gazing at the ceiling.

**Professor McGonagall shot a sharp look at Dumbledore and said, "The owls are nothing next to the rumors that are flying around. You know what everyone's saying? About why he's disappeared? About what finally stopped him?"**

**It seemed that Professor McGonagall had reached the point she was most anxious to discuss, the real reason she had been waiting on a cold, hard wall all day, for neither as a cat nor as a woman had she fixed Dumbledore with such a piercing stare as she did now. It was plain that whatever "everyone" was saying, she was not going to believe it until Dumbledore told her it was true. Dumbledore, however, was choosing another lemon drop and did not answer.**

"**What they'resaying," she pressed on, "is that last night Voldemort turned up in Godric's Hollow. He went to find the Potters. The rumor is that Lily and James Potter are—are—that they're—dead."**

**Dumbledore bowed his head. Professor McGonagall gasped.**

Everyone except Umbridge, who had woken up five minutes earlier and huffed, bowed their heads in a minute of silence. Afterwards, Dumbledore restarted reading though with a croaky voice.

"**Lily and James… I can't believe it… I didn't want to believe it… Oh, Albus…"**

**Dumbledore reached out and patted her on the shoulder. "I know… I know…" he said heavily.**

**Professor McGonagall's voice trembled as she went on. "That's not all. They're saying he tried to kill the Potter's son, Harry. But—he couldn't. He couldn't kill that little boy. No one knows why, or how, but they're saying that when he couldn't kill Harry Potter, Voldemort's power somehow broke—and that's why he's gone."**

"Why not?" asked a sceptical sixth year who had previously not believed Harry's claims. Harry could only say "I have absolutely no idea"

Those words panged at Dumbledore's heart and he kept muttering to himself for a minute "Cannot tell him, cannot tell him, cannot tell him-"

**Dumbledore nodded glumly.**

"**It's—it's true?" faltered Professor McGonagall. "After all he's done… all the people he's killed… he couldn't kill a little boy? It's just astounding… of all the things to stop him… but how in the name of heaven did Harry survive?"**

"Yes Potter, how did you survive?" George did in a perfect imitation of Umbridge's simpering voice. All the real Umbridge could do was glare and threaten him with detention.

"**We can only guess," said Dumbledore. "We may never know."**

**Professor McGonagall pulled out a lace handkerchief and dabbed at her eyes beneath her spectacles. Dumbledore gave a great sniff as he took a golden watch from his pocket and examined it. It was a very odd watch. It had twelve hands but no numbers; instead, little planets were moving around the edge. It must have made sense to Dumbledore, though, because he put it back in his pocket and said, "Hagrid's late. I suppose it was he who told you I'd be here, by the way?"**

"Yay, its Hagrid!" a gleeful Seamus said, making the present Hagrid blush.

"**Yes," said Professor McGonagall. "And I don't suppose you're going to tell me why you're here, of all places?"**

"**I've come to bring Harry to his aunt and uncle. They're the only family he has left now."**

"Be ready for the expected McGonagall rage" Lupin said quietly

"**You don't mean—you can't mean the people who live here?" cried Professor McGonagall, jumping to her feet and pointing at number four. **

"Told you"

"**Dumbledore—you can't. I've been watching them all day. You couldn't find two people who are less like us. And they've got this son—I saw him kicking his mother all the way up the street, screaming for sweets. Harry Potter come and live here!"**

"_This isn't good. If Petunia hasn't changed in all these years, what hope does Potter have..wait, why am I worried about Potter? Get hold of yourself Snape_" Snape thought to himself, feeling troubled.

"**It's the best place for him," said Dumbledore firmly. "His aunt and uncle will be able to explain everything to him when he's older. I've written them a letter."**

"How is a letter going to explain that her sister's dead and she has to care for their son?" Molly asked angrily.

"**A letter?" repeated Professor McGonagall faintly, sitting back down on the wall. "Really, Dumbledore, you think you can explain all this in a letter? These people will never understand him! He'll be famous—a legend—I wouldn't be surprised if today was known as Harry Potter day in the future—there will be books written about Harry—every child in our world will know his name!"**

"And so we all start worshipping him" Fudge sneered but was hit by a stunner from the same place in the back row. No one bothered to move, they were perfectly happy with him lying there.

"**Exactly," said Dumbledore, looking very seriously over the top of his half moon glasses. "It would be enough to turn any boy's head. Famous before he can walk and talk! Famous for something he won't even remember! Can't you see how much better off he'll be, growing up away from all that until he's ready to take it?"**

**Professor McGonagall opened her mouth, changed her mind, swallowed, and then said, "Yes—yes, you're right, of course. But how is the boy getting here, Dumbledore?" She eyed his cloak suddenly as though she thought he might be hiding Harry underneath it.**

"Prob'ley could've fit in 'ere." Hagrid said

"**Hagrid's bringing him."**

"**You think it—wise—to trust Hagrid with something as important as this?"**

"I'm truly sorry, Hagrid." McGonagall said with a pink face. He waved off her apology good-naturedly.

"**I would trust Hagrid with my life," said Dumbledore.**

"So would I" said Harry.

"**I'm not saying his heart isn't in the right place," said Professor McGonagall grudgingly, "but you can't pretend he's not careless. He does tend to—what was that?"**

**A low rumbling sound had broken the silence around them. It grew steadily louder as they looked up and down the street for some sign of a headlight; it swelled to a roar as they both looked up at the sky—and a huge motorcycle fell out of the air and landed on the road in front of them.**

Snuffles' ears perked up and he barked and ran around the Gryffindor table in circles. "Love your dog, Harry!" Lee said, laughing as Sirius jumped over the table.

**If the motorcycle was huge, it was nothing to the man sitting astride it. He was almost twice as tall as a normal man and at least five times as wide. He looked simply too big to be allowed, and so wild—long tangles of bushy black hair and beard hid most of his face, he had hands the size of trash can lids, and his feet in their leather boots were like baby dolphins. In his vast, muscular arms he was holding a bundle of blankets.**

"Introducing our half-giant awesome friend-"

"Hagrid!" majority of the school screamed out.

"Aww. A baby Harry!" Cho cooed, jealous of the attention he was giving Ginny.

"**Hagrid," said Dumbledore, sounding relieved. "At last. And where did you get that motorcycle?"**

"**Borrowed it, Professor Dumbledore, sir," said the giant, climbing carefully off the motorcycle as he spoke. "Young Sirius Black lent it to me. I've got him, sir."**

"He never got it back" Remus wondered

"**No problems, were there?"**

"**No, sir—house was almost destroyed, but I got him out all right before the Muggles started swarmin' around. He fell asleep as we was flyin' over Bristol."**

**Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall bent forward over the bundle of blankets. Inside, just visible, was a baby boy, fast asleep. Under a tuft of jet black hair over his forehead they could see a curiously shaped cut, like a bolt of lightning.**

"I can't believe that at the Dursleys I actually liked the blasted thing" Harry said, pinching the bridge of his glasses with his fingers.

"**Is that where—?" whispered Professor McGonagall.**

"**Yes," said Dumbledore. "He'll have that scar forever."**

"**Couldn't you do something about it, Dumbledore?"**

Harry's head perked up. If there was a slight chance there could be something done about it…

"**Even if I could, I wouldn't.**

"_Damn"_ Harry thought to himself

**Scars can come in handy. I have one myself above my left knee that is a perfect map of the London Underground. Well—give him here, Hagrid—we'd better get this over with."**

"Harsh"

**Dumbledore took Harry in his arms and turned toward the Dursleys' house.**

"**Could I—could I say good bye to him, sir?" asked Hagrid. He bent his great, shaggy head over Harry and gave him what must have been a very scratchy, whiskery kiss. Then, suddenly, Hagrid let out a howl like a wounded dog.**

Hagrid grinned sheepishly while Snuffles looked indignant.

"**Shhh!" hissed Professor McGonagall, "you'll wake the Muggles!"**

"**S-s-sorry," sobbed Hagrid, taking out a large, spotted handkerchief and burying his face in it. "But I c-c-can't stand it—Lily an' James dead—an' poor little Harry off ter live with Muggles—"**

"**Yes, yes, it's all very sad, but get a grip on yourself, Hagrid, or we'll be found," Professor McGonagall whispered,**

"She was never one to go to for sympathy" Dumbledore added.

**patting Hagrid gingerly on the arm as Dumbledore stepped over the low garden wall and walked to the front door. He laid Harry gently on the doorstep, took a letter out of his cloak, tucked it inside Harry's blankets, and then came back to the other two. For a full minute the three of them stood and looked at the little bundle; Hagrid's shoulders shook, Professor McGonagall blinked furiously, and the twinkling light that usually shone from Dumbledore's eyes seemed to have gone out.**

"**Well," said Dumbledore finally, "that's that. We've no business staying here. We may as well go and join the celebrations."**

"Only you, professor, only you." Charlie said, shaking his head.

"Yeah," said Hagrid in a very muffled voice, "I'll be takin' Sirius his bike back. G'night, Professor McGonagall—Professor Dumbledore, sir."

Wiping his streaming eyes on his jacket sleeve, Hagrid swung himself onto the motorcycle and kicked the engine into life; with a roar it rose into the air and off into the night.

"My beautiful bike, where art thou…" Snuffles thought sadly.

"**I shall see you soon, I expect, Professor McGonagall," said Dumbledore, nodding to her. Professor McGonagall blew her nose in reply.**

**Dumbledore turned and walked back down the street. On the corner he stopped and took out the silver Put-Outer. He clicked it once, and twelve balls of light sped back to their street lamps so that Privet Drive glowed suddenly orange and he could make out a tabby cat slinking around the corner at the other end of the street. He could just see the bundle of blankets on the step of number four.**

"**Good luck, Harry," he murmured. He turned on his heel and with a swish of his cloak, he was gone.**

"Didn't get much of that luck" Harry said unexpectedly, alerting Remus of his suspicions of the Dursley, something they will probably find in the next chapter.

A breeze ruffled the neat hedges of Privet Drive, which lay silent and tidy under the inky sky, the very last place you would expect astonishing things to happen. Harry Potter rolled over inside his blankets without waking up. One small hand closed on the letter beside him and he slept on,

"That's so cute Harry!" a fangirl in Ravenclaw said.

not knowing he was special, not knowing he was famous, not knowing he would be woken in a few hours' time by Mrs. Dursley's scream as she opened the front door to put out the milk bottles, nor that he would spend the next few weeks being prodded and pinched by his cousin Dudley… He couldn't know that at this very moment, people meeting in secret all over the country were holding up their glasses and saying in hushed voices: "To Harry Potter—the boy who lived!"

Albus Dumbledore closed the book and said, "Who would like to read next?" completely ignoring the laments of Professor Umbridge.

MiraiTear: Alright, first chapter done. Took a few days but it's done. I will probably rewrite this chapter later, it's just that I needed to put it out there before I left on holidays.

PLEASE REVIEW!


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